âAs you can see, the street signs are multiple. They are in Bavle which is the dialect. They are in Castellano which is the modern Spanish. They are explaining to you the culture and heritage of that region.â

After a back and forth at multiple City Council meetings, there was a general consensus that both spellings were accurate. But to add to the controversy, a new group emerged. Fran Costantino, president of the East Ybor Historic and Civic Association, said the city should nix the Spanish translations and just call the street 7th Avenue because Ybor has been recognized nationally by that name, not the others.

âI think it is sad that our ancestors will be looking down and seeing that we have now been reduced to a cartoon. I donât usually compromise on much, and usually stick to my grounds like when I extended the historic district to let everyone know something existed past the Columbia restaurant, but I think this is a good compromise for everybody. It was Seventh Avenue, it was Broadway, it reflects on the award that we got.â

The prospect of axing Spanish altogether brought council member Capin to tears.

âWhatever we decide here, the only thing I ask is do not erase the history. I have been called stupid, double laughable, ridiculous in emails. And the stupid and ignorant ones were the ones who brought this forth in the first place. I have nothing else to say.â

âIâm just looking to go the lease expensive route possible and to preserve what we have in our history and looking at all three options, Iâm thinking that at this point in time we leave the signs the way we are, we replace the signs that are broken because that would be the least expensive route to go.â

The resolution adopted today allows the city to auction off the old street signs. Council members hope the proceeds from that will help offset the $2,000 original estimated cost. That figure could be higher now that the signs will contain extra text.